The Virgin and Child Appearing to Saint Francis of Assisi

The apparition of the Virgin and Christ Child to Saint Francis of Assisi was a subject connecting two of the most important devotional traditions in Counter-Reformation Catholicism — Marian piety and Franciscan mysticism. Giordano's 1680s treatment for the Cleveland Museum of Art depicts the great mystical encounter in which Francis received a vision of divine maternal love. By the 1680s, Giordano had completed the transformation from Riberesque naturalist to the brilliant eclectic painter who could simulate any style and had decorated major spaces in Florence and Naples. His commission to fresco the library ceiling of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence (1682-83) — one of the greatest Florentine decorative achievements of the seventeenth century — had established him as the equal of Cortona and the Carracci. The Cleveland Museum of Art holds this large canvas as part of its outstanding collection of Baroque painting, where it stands as evidence of Giordano's mature ability to combine dramatic figural composition with the luminous color of his late period.

Giordano's characteristic speed of execution is evident in the fluid, confident brushwork that models the figures with minimal labor. The warm, golden palette and dynamic diagonal composition create a sense of visionary ecstasy appropriate to the mystical subject.